Written by UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira is turning to former foe Sean Strickland for help heading into UFC 307.
Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) defends his title against Khalil Rountree (13-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in the UFC 307 headliner Oct. 5 in Salt Lake City. Pereira knocked out Strickland in Round 1 of their July 2022 middleweight matchup. They have since trained together, and “Poatan” will once again utilize Strickland in training.
Pereira moved his camp to Salt Lake City to ensure he’s even better prepared than he was when he edged out Jan Blachowicz in his light heavyweight debut at UFC 291 in Utah.
“The thing about the altitude is that it’s hard (to train),” Pereira said on his YouTube channel (h/t MMA Fighting). “We did this once when I fought Blachowicz. We did it for two weeks then and three weeks now. I think it’s going to be much better. …
“We have a great team here. We have Glover (Teixeira), Plinio (Cruz), Yousri (Belgaroui), ‘Cesinha’ (Cesar Almeida). Sean Strickland is also coming next week to train with us here. I’m very happy with this preparation.”
Strickland is currently campaigning for a rematch with UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis. Strickland lost his title to Du Plessis by split decision at UFC 297 and has since rebounded with a win over Paulo Costa at UFC 302.